Pre- and Post-Harvest Processing Strategies to Improve the Quality and Safety of Meat and Poultry Products

Non-Technical Summary:<br/>
Conditions exist during the management, feeding, transportation, handling, slaughter, fabrication, processing, shipping, and retail segments of the meat industry chain that can negatively impact muscle quality. The purpose of this project is to identify and/or develop pre- and/ or post-harvest strategies via a "systems approach" to address muscle quality variation and ultimately the value of meat and poultry. expected outcomes/impacts from this research include development of fundamental and applied knowledge in processing technologies disseminated via scientific publication; application of knowledge or adoption of new information and methods to improve meat and poultry processing disseminated via workshops; and to improve the productivity of food production by ensuring and safe, high quality and sustainable food supply disseminated via scientific conferences.
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Approach:<br/>
Phase I - Screening. A selection process will be conducted to obtain animal, raw materials, non-meat ingredients, etc. for screening to determine their characteristics, functionality and/or other important attributes under a model system that mimics proposed production and/or processing conditions (i.e., feeding practices, processing techniques).
<br/>Phase II - Prototype product development. Information from Phase I will be used to develop prototype products and/or processing systems. Prototype products or processing systems will be evaluated to determine their effects on meat and poultry quality and/or safety.
<br/>Phase III - Large-scale production. Replicated studies will be conducted to validate impact of innovative products or processing technologies. These studies may be conducted on the farm, within a university pilot plant setting, or within an industry setting. Objective and subjective evaluations and physicochemical analyses will be conducted to determine the impact of processing technologies or non-meat ingredients on product quality safety and/or performance.
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Progress:<br/>
2012/01 TO 2012/12<br/>
OUTPUTS: A survey of residual nitrite (NO2?) and nitrate (NO3?) in cured meats available at retail was conducted to verify concentrations in conventional (C) products and establish a baseline for organic/natural/uncured/indirectly cured (ONC) products. In this study, 470 cured meat products representing six major categories were taken from retail outlets in five major metropolitan cities across the United States. Random samples representing both C and ONC type products were analyzed for NO2? and NO3? content (ppm) using an ENO-20 high-performance liquid chromatography system equipped with a reverse phase column. Generally, there were no differences in NO2? concentrations between C and ONC meat categories, but a few ONC products surveyed in certain cities were lower in NO3? content. Pairwise comparisons between cities indicated that NO2? and NO3? contents of all C type products were not appreciably different, and the same was true for most ONC products.
<br/>PARTICIPANTS: Maryuri T. Nunez De Gonzales, Professor, Department of Food Technology, Universidad de Oriente, Nucleo Nueva Esparta, Escuela de Ciencias Aplicadas del Mar, Isla de Margarita, 6301, Venezuela Michael Longnecker, Department of Statistics, Texas A&M University, Blocker Building, College Station, Texas 77843-3143, United States Harsha K. Garg, Brown Foundation Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Texas, Houston Health Science Center, Houston, Texas 77030, United States Nathan S. Bryan, Brown Foundation Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Texas, Houston Health Science Center, Houston, Texas 77030, United States Jimmy T. Keeton, Professor and Head, Department of Nutrition and Food Science, Texas A&M University, 122 Kleberg Center, College Station, Texas 77843-2253, United
<br/>TARGET AUDIENCES: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.
<br/>PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.
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IMPACT: The NO2? and NO3? values of all meat products sampled were numerically lower than those reported in the National Academy of Sciences in 1981. However, this study confirms that residual NO2? concentrations in cured meat products were similar to those reported in a 1997 study. This study provides a benchmark for NO2?/NO3? concentrations in categories of organic/natural/uncured/indirectly cured products available at retail which had not been reported previously.